


Maid to Dress Up

by LexiTheDoubleedge



Series: Taylor's Dress-Up Spin-offs [2]
Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Costume Kink, Costumes, F/F, Masturbation, Sexual Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2020-04-08 09:00:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19103923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LexiTheDoubleedge/pseuds/LexiTheDoubleedge
Summary: When Vista hears about a party the Undersiders are hosting, it's clear she can't go. But Missy can. Dressed up as a maid, she sneaks in, looking for useful information. But the only intel she discovers is that Skitter has a thing for dressing as a cute French maid.Wait, what?





	1. Beginnings or Endings

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Maid to Serve](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14428956) by [WestOrEast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WestOrEast/pseuds/WestOrEast). 
  * Inspired by [Taylor's Dress-Up Adventures](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13548336) by [kamenhero25](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamenhero25/pseuds/kamenhero25). 



> And then I started doing it again.
> 
> This story uses some of the setup from Maid to Serve chapter 1 and some of it's ideas, but don't expect things to go the same from there. This is the story of a different Missy meeting a very different Taylor...

Skitter gestured at a chair, and I sat down in it as she perched on a loveseat, tugging at her mask. I watched as she pulled it off, revealing the pale face of the woman underneath it. I kept on thinking of her as Skitter, even though I, and most of the city, knew the name of Taylor Hebert. But so long as she didn’t know about Missy and Vista, it was all still alright.

She just seemed to stare at me for quite a while. "I'm surprised to see someone dressed as a maid at a party like this," she finally said.

I shrugged. "It wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was the best thing the rental place had that fit properly," I replied, more or less truthfully. They also had a sexy bee costume in my size, but come on, really?

"Also because it's not really a costume party," Skitter pointed out wryly. "Certain personages excepted," she added with a glance down at herself.

I tried to shrug it off even though I felt my face turning red. "Maybe I just felt like dressing up a bit," I said. "It's fun to wear something different sometimes, isn't it?" It's not like I was the only person who'd done so either. That nurse costume I'd seen someone in had... really been something.

That actually seemed to take her aback for a bit. "Fun... yeah," she said before lapsing back into silence.

And then we just stared at each other some more. Skitter looked almost like she was wrestling with temptation, which I was starting to find alarming.

Then Skitter seemed to reach some sort of decision and stood up. "I'll be back in a minute, okay? Don't go wandering around by yourself, there's some places in here that could be dangerous."

Well wasn't that ominous and also ominous. But my best chance of getting out of this safely - and maybe learning something useful along the way - was still to play along. So I'd wait.

A few minutes later, the door opened again, and I found myself gaping in astonishment at what came through.

Skitter - no, I felt ridiculous trying to call this creature by that name, Taylor - had changed into a different costume. She'd left the room as one of the most dangerous criminals the Bay had ever known.

"It still fits," she announced, sounding pleased as she adjusted her skirt.

She'd reentered the room as a maid. She even had a feather duster.

It wasn't the same as mine by any means. Oh, there were some similarities in the basic style - for one thing, we both had skirts that were far shorter than was really practical. Actually I think hers was a bit shorter proportionally. And much frillier than mine was.

And when she said that it fit, she really meant it. When I'd said that mine fit, I'd meant it fit about as well as could be reasonably expected from off-the-shelf garments. Taylor's had obviously been, if not made for her specifically, then adjusted to fit her by a skilled hand.

Also she was absolutely freaking -gorgeous-. I tried to remind myself that she was a dangerous supervillain. It didn't help very much. I still wanted to grab her and bury my face in her... well, her everything, pretty much. Either against her bare skin, or through the thin fabric of her costume, both possibilities had their own appeal.

She knew it too, that was obvious, and I got the impression that it was changing the way she was looking at me somehow.

Then she started dusting.

Dusting!

Well, with the way her hips were swaying and the little looks she was casting me, maybe it was better described as 'flirting'. There was a part of me that definitely approved of this development, but how had it ended up like this?!

And then I heard a crash.

It was easy to see what the problem was when I stood up. She'd bumped into an end table and knocked over a vase of flowers.

I didn't think any of the glass had hit her, but there was something disquieting about the way she just stood there and stared down at them.

Finally, I asked "Should I get something to clean that up with?" It seemed a bit inane when I said it like that, but... yeah.

"Down the hall, second door on your left," Taylor replied, sounding a bit distant.

So out the door I went, a butterfly leading the way - not that I could really get lost. I grabbed a broom and dustpan, and came back.

Taylor just watched as I swept up the mess. The flowers looked too broken up to be saveable, so they went into the trash with the rest. There wasn't too much water left, it could dry on it's own. Then I put the broom and dustpan back.

When I returned, she was still standing in the same place.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

Look, she was obviously hurting. Villain or not I didn't have it in me to ignore that.

And it was really hard to remember that she was a villain right now. I knew all the stories about the heartless mastermind who'd managed to out-bluff Alexandria, and the ones about the seductress who'd torn New Wave apart with her wiles. (Odd that some people could tell both stories and not notice how they didn't quite fit together.) She didn't look much like either of those things right now.

Just a person who needed someone to be there.

(Though I could personally attest to some of the 'seductress' parts. Or at least my panties could. Even if I'd calmed down a bit now.)

Taylor turned and looked at me. "One of my best friends gave me this," she said.

I blinked. "The costume or the flowers?" I asked.

"Both. A friend I've since lost gave me the costume. Today's the first time I've put it on in a long time... and then I lost the gift a new friend gave me."

I winced. I didn't know who any of these people were, and I didn't believe in bad omens, but it was a strange and disturbing parallel.

I walked over and carefully put my arms around her. "I don't really understand, but... if they're your friends, they wouldn't want you to feel bad about an accident, would they?" It was a platitude. I knew it was a platitude. But it was what I had.

Taylor hugged me back. "Yeah... she'd always want everyone to have fun, no matter what else happened." Her expression became a bit less distant. "You're really something, you know? Trying to cheer up a supervillain like this. And I don't even know your name." She sounded a bit teasing now.

"I am what I am," I said with as much of a shrug as I could manage in this position. Even if I was pretty sure I -shouldn't- be when she put it that way. And I really shouldn't be getting turned on again feeling her arms around me. "And I'm Missy."

"Did you pick that to go with your costume?" she asked as she let go of me.

I made a face as I lowered my own arms. "No. I'm just Missy," I replied.

Taylor smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Missy," she said. "Would you like to come visit tomorrow? I don't get to dress up with anyone much anymore... in this business everyone seems to just expect you to pick one outfit and forget about it." She sighed. "And I should probably put mine back on and make another appearance downstairs."

I thought about it. As an invited guest, I might be able to learn something useful about Skitter's operations... And it sounded like it could be fun. (And part of me wanted to find out if it had really been desire that I'd seen in her eyes.) "I think I'd like that," I said. "This costume -is- a rental, though."

"Oh, that's not a problem," she replied. "I know someone who's -very- good at costumes."

I suppose she did at that. I'd have to be careful. She shouldn't recognize me but Foil might.

"Just one more thing," she said, walking over to a counter along the side of the room and doing something I couldn't see. Then she came back and handed me a necklace. It had a little plastic cube on it with a ladybug inside. "It's not always safe out there. Just keep that with you, and if you're ever in trouble, crush the cube, and I'll know."

"Thanks," I said. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it, but I supposed it was a nice enough gesture for someone she thought was just a normal girl.

"It's no problem. I try to give these to all my friends."

Friends.

I babbled something in reply and fled the room before I had to think too hard about Skitter calling me a friend.

I'd be visiting Skitter tomorrow. I'd need to wash and return the maid costume to the rental place first. I didn't think I'd gotten it particularly dirty, but the night wasn't over yet, and the excitement hadn't all left my body despite that slightly odd conversation.

So I was going to go home, I was going to -not- take the costume off, and I was going to _masturbate until my fingers bled_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you get when you fuse two fanfics together?
> 
> I'd actually had the thought of "What if the Taylor of Taylor's Dress-Up Adventures met the Missy of Maid to Serve?" quite a while back, but it wasn't until more recently that I thought about what it would take to actually mesh those two variants of the Worm universe together.
> 
> On the "Dress-Up" side of things, this also uses my [omake](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18597580) for the series, but there would of course have to be more changes than that to make things fit, given that it's a world without endbringers, not to mention where Taylor's canon trigger event is unlikely. While I don't know how much more of this I'll write, I've got ideas for a few more parts where some of those changes might come to light.
> 
> I'm a bit worried that I might have Taylor getting very emotionally open here very suddenly, but I'm also not quite sure it doesn't make sense, because Missy kind of accidentally got her in a very sore spot and it makes sense for it to leave her a bit vulnerable.
> 
> (It's also been one of my running assumptions for MtS stuff that Taylor concluded at some point that she didn't like the way her emotional displacement trick affected her and her interactions with others, and is deliberately trying to not use it unless she has a specific need to do so for deception or intimidation or something.)
> 
> sexy bee costume - At one point some site I was reading posted a list of 'sexy' women's Halloween costumes that was supposed to progressively come across as more and more absurd, finally being capped with "sexy bee". This is partly me being reminded of that and partly a tip of the hat to BeaconHill's Nemesis, which I have also been writing (SFW) omakes for.
> 
> if not made for her specifically... - There was originally going to be a line here about Taylor's costume having come with matching underwear (and Missy's not have), but I double-checked and Missy's costume -did- in MtS. Which strikes me as peculiar, but okay.
> 
> knocked over a vase of flowers - I did not -specifically- have this happen just to be a reversal of what happened in MtS. But I can't deny enjoying that doing so worked so well for my goals.


	2. Lust or Consequences

I didn't like to admit it even to myself, but there really had been something a bit childish about my crush on Gallant.

It's not that my feelings hadn't been real, but there had been... something missing. Not just physical desire, though that'd been part of it. There was just a gap there that I hadn't been able to bridge. 

Given time, I would have gotten past it. Maybe I'd have moved on, or I'd have decided I wanted something other then a romantic relationship from him.

Or maybe I'd have become his second girlfriend.

Hey, his first girlfriend got to have two girlfriends, it was only fair. Not that I knew about that until later.

But I didn't get that time. And so I was left with guesses and might-have-beens. Things I wanted to believe but couldn't be quite sure about.

And it really made things awkward when I started having sex dreams about Glory Girl.

And Gallant. Okay, those weren't awkward in the same way, but it felt weird when he was gone.

The dreams about being with both of them at once were -super- awkward.

It's when I started getting turned on by Evenstar, who wasn't just a villain but a complete asshole of a villain, that I started to wonder about myself.

So that's how I got the "Sometimes you'll be attracted to parahumans of other alignments, and that's okay, and doesn't mean you're going to just suddenly defect" talk. Sounds like some kind of after-school special, doesn't it?

That last part didn't work out with Flechette, of course, but I guess that is actually pretty rare.

Anyway, being attracted to a villain wasn't a new thing to me. But this wasn't quite the same.

***

Skitter wasn't really an appealing sight. All hard and distorted by her armor and the bugs crawling over her. And those claws? What was the point of that?

Taylor was different. Taylor had been warm and soft and... well, it sounds super creepy saying "vulnerable". But there had been something there... it'd taken me by surprise, but it made me feel comfortable getting closer to her in a way that I wasn't with Skitter.

And she was really, really hot. Sure, she didn't have a lot of curves. (I was the last person who got to complain about that.) But her legs were incredible. I'd heard the phrase 'legs that go all the way up' before, but I don't think I'd really understood it until now. I wanted to run my hands all the way up those legs...

I pulled my gloves off and tossed them on the floor. They felt okay to wear, but touching myself with them felt itchy.

Hmmm, if we're both maids... Taylor would be the serious one, and I'm the wild one, who teases her and convinces her that since we're the ones cleaning, it's okay if we make a bit of a mess... or maybe it'd be the other way around?

I wanted both, and I found myself imagining both, the images getting smeared together in my mind. 

Taylor's legs were so tense, I'd start by massaging her calves... 

Arching my back as she kissed the back of my neck... 

Pulling her stockings down with my teeth...

Leaning back against her, feeling her hands resting gently on my belly, knowing she wasn't going to stop there...

Hearing her giggle as I tickled the back of one knee with my tongue, a sound that rapidly changed in tone as I worked my way up...

And then...

***

Taylor... are you thinking of me?

Did I turn you on so much that you'd sneak away from your own party to play with yourself?

Did you put the maid costume back on, or where you too impatient to wait any longer?

Have you got any toys you're using, or are you just using your hands like I am?

What is the Missy you imagine doing with you? Is she rough or gentle? Fast or slow?

Is she teasing you until you beg for it, like I want to?

Or is she relentlessly driving you to greater heights of pleasure with every touch, like I want to?

Do I have to watch your face closely to know how good you're feeling, or do you moan loudly to let everyone know?

What do you look like when you cum?

Taylor...

***

I flopped down on my bed, a puddle of dazed pleasure.

Pretty soon I'd have to at least get changed. I had a long day planned for tomorrow. That could wait for a while though.

I'd generally worked through my lust for the likes of Kano the Lance pretty quickly. But Taylor... Taylor was different.

I had a feeling I wasn't going to get over her anytime soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evenstar and Kano the Lance are taken from my character roster in the late, lamented City of Heroes. Although they were neither villains nor assholes.


	3. Caution or Couture

Taylor had set a brisk pace even with the boxes she was toting along, but not so much so that I wasn't able to take a moment to look over our destination.

I'd seen Parian's shop back when it was located near downtown, though I'd never had a reason to go inside. The new location I had to say didn't have quite the same charm as the original. The Victorian-style construction matched, but I could see places where damage had been repaired. The windows at the front still displayed beautiful clothes of many styles, in testimony of the proprietor's skill, but the image was slightly marred by the realization that I was seeing them through bulletproof glass.

This was a place that had not only been touched by violence, but was built with the expectation of violence to come. The obvious guards merely added to that impression.

I wondered what had induced the popular rogue to move her entire operation here, and throw her lot in with some of the city's most notorious criminals. I couldn't imagine it'd done her business much good, even if she probably got some new customers from the thrill-seekers. But I didn't suppose I was likely to ever learn.

The inside, at least, was a cheerful enough space, with a well-lit waiting area that seemed intended to feel more like a room in someone's home than it did any shop I'd ever been in. I wasn't a stranger to having custom-fitted clothing made, but even so I felt a bit out of place.

Parian was already waiting for us. I wondered if it was a slow day for her, or if someone had called ahead? After all, Taylor and I hadn't actually decided on a time for me to come by, so she couldn't have gotten an appointment. I hoped we weren't causing her any trouble with this sudden intrusion.

"Good morning, Taylor," Parian said. "Is this your new friend?"

That sounded like my cue. "I'm Missy," I said, sticking out my hand. "Nice to meet you."

"It's a pleasure," Parian replied as she shook my hand, before turning her attention back to Taylor. "So, on the phone you mentioned something about a maid costume?"

To be honest I wasn't massively attached to the idea of dressing as a maid, but Taylor really seemed to like it, and it's not like I was particularly against it either, so I kept quiet for now.

"Yes, Missy had to return the costume she was using to the rental shop," Taylor replied. I noted she left out any mention of exactly why I needed such a costume at all. "I've also got a few things I'm hoping you can resize for her, but that can wait."

Parian held a hand up in front of her mouth (or the appropriate part of her mask, anyway) demurely as she chuckled. "You really are turning into the second coming of Vicky, aren't you?" she asked.

And Taylor just froze up.

It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. I hadn't been looking at her right then, but she'd sounded happy and I assumed she'd had a smile on her face to match it. When I looked back she'd gone completely blank, not even a twitch betraying that a person still lived behind those glasses.

Parian quickly went to Taylor's side and began gently rubbing her back, while shooting me a look I had a hard time judging with her mask in the way, but I took to be some form of "help me, dammit!"

I didn't really understand what was going on, but I went to Taylor's other side and put my arms around her, resting my head against her shoulder, and after a little while she seemed to relax.

"I'm sorry," Parian said as she pulled away. "I shouldn't have brought that up."

Taylor sighed and shook her head. "No, you're right. And I... really need to start dealing with this better."

Parian accepted this with a nod as she picked up the boxes Taylor had brought with her. "All right then," she said before turning to the hall leading to the back of the shop. "Missy, please follow me."

We'd only gone a little ways when I realized I was hearing a third set of footsteps, and I looked over my shoulder and saw Taylor following us. I felt my face turning red. Did she really intend...?

Parian, having obviously heard the same thing, stopped and turned around. Then, to my shock, she began flailing her arms in the direction of Taylor's face as though to drive her off while shouting. "Out! Out! Have a cookie, read my girly magazines, go fly a kite, I don't care, just stay out! And keep your bugs out too! Out! Out! Out!"

Taylor blinked in surprise at the clothier's sudden fury, then went a bit red herself. "Sorry. I... I wasn't thinking," she said in a subdued tone, before turning and taking a seat at the table.

I didn't see what she did after that, because Parian had turned back around and I was perforce required to move to follow her. I didn't think being found having wandered off would be a good idea.

The room we went to was relatively sparsely occupied. A couple of chairs next to a small table, a rack of measuring tools, not much else.

For a little while Parian didn't say anything, just set the boxes down on the table and started looking through them. I couldn't see what was inside them from where I was standing, but judging by her body language, the contents of the second box startled her, and there was a sense of growing incredulity about the rest.

After she finished looking through everything she stepped away from the table and pinned me with a stare. "How old are you, really?" she asked.

At the party I'd told Skitter that I was eighteen, which had really been an obvious lie. I'd pretty much expected to be thrown out at that point, and it didn't bother me what she'd thought.

I didn't know why Parian was asking me now, but I got the impression it mattered a lot more this time. So I told her the truth. "Fifteen," I answered.

Parian seemed to contemplate that for a little while. "I think I believe you," she replied. Well, thanks for that. At least she didn't offer me her condolences or anything, lines like that had really gotten old. She did chuckle again for some reason though. "It really is history repeating itself, huh? All right, I'll play my part. You'll need to strip down to your underwear."

I stared back at Parian, my previous hint of redness turning into a full-on blush. I knew she was a lesbian, and I wasn't exactly straight myself, but...

She sighed. "Please don't give me that look. You're too young for me, anyway. But if I'm going to get some of these to fit you properly, I'm going to need all of your sizes."

I let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Right, I'm getting fitted for clothes. Nothing untoward going on here. I started removing my clothes while, true to her professed disinterest, she turned back to the table, apparently to get something ready on her end. Once I was down to my underwear and socks, I decided the latter were staying on too unless she specifically asked. The floor looked like it'd be cold to me.

Then the measuring proper began, with the socks apparently not being a problem. The process itself wasn't really new to me, though seeing the way Parian's tools sometimes held themselves in place or moved around without any apparent intervention from her was novel.

"All done," Parian said after what seemed like a surprisingly short period of time.

I was almost finished redressing myself when Parian spoke up again.

"Taylor tells me that you only met her yesterday," she said. "I hope you realize that she's opened herself up to you a great deal, especially given the shortness of your acquaintance."

I nodded.

Her voice became a bit severe. "There are many of us who would be... displeased if anyone were to use that openness against her."

I blinked. "Are you giving me... a -shovel talk-?" I said in a tone of growing incredulity.

"I suppose I am."

I couldn't help but laugh. "I've imagined what that would be like once or twice, but I was always the one going, 'Daaaad, stop embarrassing me in front of my date!' in those dreams."

"It is a bit ridiculous, isn't it?" Parian replied, giggling. Then her tone became serious again. "Still, I meant what I said."

I took a deep breath. "I don't understand everything that's going on, so I can't promise I won't step in anything." I couldn't help but think of what happened when we came in, and that was from something Parian, the one who knew what was going on, had said. "But I don't want to do anything to hurt her."

Yes, I wanted to learn Skitter's secrets, tear down her criminal empire, and see her arrested and brought to justice, but that didn't mean I wanted to hurt Taylor.

Somehow, when I thought of it that way, it seemed wrong, but I pushed that feeling down for now.

Parian sighed. "I suppose that's all I can really ask," she said, before leading me to another room.

This one was obviously designed for consulting with clients, with multiple comfortable chairs around a larger table. There were books of fabric samples on shelves, sheets of figure templates for sketching out designs, and other things I didn't recognize. Parian had also apparently printed out some pictures of different maid costumes for inspiration and reference sometime before we'd arrived.

"Taylor already said you wanted a maid costume, but there are quite a few possibilities..." She began.

I interrupted her. "Shouldn't Taylor have some input too? Since she is paying for this." I'd probably feel a bit more strange about that, but, you know, wealthy supervillain vs. Wards not really making all -that- much in the grand scheme of things. Taylor had mentioned that she usually paid Parian in silk anyways.

Parian quirked her head to one side. "As you wish," she replied before leaving to get the other woman.

I started looking through the pictures while I waited. Oooh, this one looked good. And I liked the design of the apron on this one...

The next I dropped like it was a hot potato. Did that even count as more than underwear?!

***

It didn't take quite a full hour for us to work out a design. Parian (unsurprisingly) and Taylor (a bit surprisingly) both had a good eye for color and design, and I knew what I liked (which Taylor also had a few suggestions on), so it wasn't a difficult process, it just took a while due to all the details involved.

The only bad moment was when Foil walked in midway through, and I felt like my heart was going to stop. Unlike the rest of this group, she'd seen me as Vista without my visor.

I pretended to be engrossed in a sample book while the two embraced and shared some murmured words. (Well, it wasn't entirely pretending, I really did want to be sure this material would be comfortable.)

And then Foil left without ever giving me a second look. It felt strangely anticlimactic.

***

Parian said it would only take two or three hours for her to have my new outfit ready. That didn't seem like very long to me, but I supposed her power let her work much more quickly than someone doing things by hand with ordinary tools could.

So Taylor and I left the Dollhouse and got lunch at a nearby shop. The proprietor was a jovial man, who obviously knew Taylor and even asked if she wanted 'her usual'. (She did.) He seemed entirely unconcerned about having a supervillain in his shop, even if she was out of costume.

Afterwards, we went back and settled down to peruse the magazines. There were, unsurprisingly, plenty of fashion magazines. Maybe it shouldn't have seemed odd to me that Taylor went for one of those, given her obvious friendship with Parian. I went digging a little further, and soon found that the mention of "girly magazines" had not been a joke. Oh, they were tasteful enough, but...

I imagined Taylor in a few of the outfits shown and hastily decided to switch to a news and current events title. Not that I could honestly say it was a much better use of my time. I doubted any of their so-called experts had any better idea why Scion or the Endbringers had disappeared than I did, though the article mocking the kooks who thought Scion was somehow the source of the monsters was amusing for a while.

It didn't take me long to exhaust that magazine of it's entertainment value and toss it aside. I picked up another one, but I wasn't really paying attention. I was thinking about some of what I'd heard over the past couple days.

A best friend... a lost friend... Vicky. But I wondered, did either of them think I would know who they were talking about? I supposed that by sneaking into the party the way I had, I'd presented the image of just the kind of thrill-seeking cape junkie who would have tried to learn everything they could before going in. Anyway, I was sure that all of those things referred to the same person.

Victoria Dallon. Glory Girl.

Her relationship with Taylor hadn't been heavily publicized, but it wasn't much of a secret either. I'd looked at the library's copy of the 2011 yearbook, it's pages already well-thumbed, myself. The writer's tone of delighted scandal when Vicky seemed to have had -three- different dates for a particular dance had certainly been amusing.

Then there were some of the photos of the basketball team's "unofficial cheerleaders". And some of the more salacious rumors I'd heard about what they had gotten up to in the locker room after games. Of course, if you were ready to believe the rumors about cheerleaders, the ones about the -official- cheerleaders and the football team would really blow your mind. Still, I couldn't help but wonder.

I still noticed that neither that volume nor the next years mentioned any of their fates.

Dean Stansfield. Gallant - his cape status revealed posthumously. Died in the battle against Leviathan.

Taylor Hebert. Outed as the supervillain Skitter by the PRT.

Amy and Vicky Dallon. Dropped out, left home after an infamous row with their mother shortly after Taylor was outed. Where they went after that... who knew? You can't stop them, they're like the wind.

I guess maybe I was a bit like a thrill-seeking cape junkie after all. As a description it just left a few things out.

I was pretty sure there was a lot I was still missing, but there was one thing that was obvious.

Something had happened between Taylor and the Dallons. Something that Taylor was not even remotely over.

And I seemed to have become the unwitting 'beneficiary' of it.

Why me? What did I do?

It couldn't be something as banal as my looks, could it? Okay, I was blonde, Vicky was blonde, but let's face it. I'm no Glory Girl, and I'm not just talking about my chest.

Still, I'd meant what I'd said to Parian. I didn't want to hurt Taylor.

I just wished I knew what that actually meant.

Maybe I should go back to the swimsuits. Introspection was starting to feel unsafe right now.

***

Parian lead me to a third room, after giving Taylor what looked like a mock glare to make sure she stayed in her seat. This one was obviously the room where the actual sewing got done. The fabric bits and various tools strewn around made that clear. At first I was surprised to be brought here, until I noticed the changing booth off to one side. I supposed it made sense to try things on here, so if any alterations needed to be made everything to do so was conveniently to hand.

I quickly went into the booth and changed. Parian had made almost a complete outfit for me - the only thing missing was the shoes, and I'd brought a pair of black flats from home that had worked with my rental costume. After seeing the way Taylor had looked in her heels, I was a bit curious (or jealous), but this didn't seem like the time to try learning to walk in what a friend of mine had derisively referred to as "lady-stilts".

Everything looked and felt perfect to me, but Parian was apparently more of a perfectionist than I was, because after circling me a couple times and pulling on different places she had me go back into the booth and hand the dress back out so she could do... something to it. I couldn't tell the difference when she handed it back in, but this time she seemed satisfied.

And then I just spent a while looking at myself in the mirror, turning this way and that, trying to convince myself that the creature in the mirror was really me.

"Excellent," Parian said, sounding pleased at both the outfit itself and my obvious appreciation of her work. "Would you like me to call Taylor in so she can see?"

I thought about it for a bit. "Some anticipation is also supposed to be good for you, right?" I asked.

"Of course," Parian replied, now sounding amused.

***

Taylor obviously disagreed, judging by the look on her face when I came out. I don't think I did a very good job hiding my own amusement.

After a short discussion of some details for Taylor's payment that I'd admit escaped me, and Parian reminding Taylor to wash any damaged costumes before bringing them in for repair, we started walking back to to Taylor's building. (I didn't know what to call the place even in my head. It was too big to be an apartment even if it more or less contained one, too much not-housing to be a house, too nice to be a lair, too mundane to be a base. Why am I letting this distract me?)

When we got back to the room I'd first talked to her in, she pointed out a door to the side that I hadn't really paid attention to before. "There's a bathroom through there if you want to get changed," she said. Obviously, she didn't want to wait any longer.

That was okay. Neither did I.

I noticed Taylor going out before I shut the door. Maybe she was going to change into her own maid costume too. I would be absolutely fine with that.

***

Taylor was already back by the time I stepped out of the bathroom, and she was indeed wearing her own costume.

When I looked at her face as she saw me, I felt like I really understood what it meant to 'take someone's breath away'.

"Beautiful..." she whispered.

My costume had a bit more in common with hers than the rental had, but there were differences too. I had fewer ruffles, and more lace. The skirt was a bit longer proportionally, and a little fuller, but it would ride up a bit if I twirled around. Like I was doing right now.

I heard a sharp intake of breath.

Oh, and there was the garter belt. Mustn't forget the garter belt. I didn't know why seeing those little straps peeking out was such a turn-on, I just knew that it was. I could probably get myself going as well as anything ever had just by looking at myself in a mirror for long enough in this, couldn't I?

Of course, I had an even better audience available right now.

I strolled over to the loveseat and sat down, and a moment later Taylor came and joined me (and gave me another opportunity to watch her hips swaying.)

And there we sat.

If this were a movie, this would be the part where you'd hear an obnoxiously loud clock ticking to indicate the awkward passage of time.

Tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock.

It hadn't really hit me until then, what I was doing.

I wasn't here to visit, or dress up, or hang out, or anything of the sort, even if I'd done some of all of those things.

No. No matter how you dressed it up (I nearly snorted at the inadvertent pun), I hadn't come for any of that. I'd come here to -hook up-. I was here to have sex with someone I barely knew. Someone a part of my mind that I was trying to ignore insisted wasn't -worth- knowing.

What the hell was I doing?

Was I really ready for this?

My body certainly seemed to be ready for this. I felt so wet I could hardly believe it was real. But how much did that really matter?

And why hadn't Taylor said anything all this time?

Of course, that was when she spoke up.

"You know, I was wearing this when Vicky made me a woman."

If I'd been drinking something, I'd have spit it across the room then and there. As it was, I choked a bit before glaring at her. "That wasn't very nice."

"Sorry," Taylor replied, though she didn't sound very contrite to me. Then her tone got a bit more reflective. "It's still true though. It's not like my first time with her was in this or anything..."

Which did not imply that she hadn't had sex with Vicky -other- times in that costume.

I wasn't exactly repulsed by the idea.

"... But that was when I started to believe. That someone could actually find me attractive."

Well, that was a straight line if I ever heard one. "I may not be an expert, but..." I slid over a bit and put an arm over her shoulders. "I'd say you're a lot more than just 'attractive'". Then I thought about what I'd just said. "And I sound like a complete idiot." 

Taylor blinked, then started giggling. "It's certainly not the worst line I've ever heard."

That didn't exactly feel like praise... but she was smiling when she said it.

God, she's cute.

So I leaned over and kissed her.

It felt so warm and natural that, at least for the moment, all the doubts left me. Nothing had really changed, but right now I felt like I had this under control.

***

I looked around, half-dazed. Both of us had lost most of our accessories by now. I couldn't even see where one of my stockings had ended up, though the other was draped over the back of the loveseat. I could see Taylor's panties in a potted plant when I leaned back. It looked like most of the rest were strewn across the floor around us.

We weren't exactly roleplaying, but a line came to me and so I threw it out. "We've made such a mess," I observed. "The lady of the house will be mad at us."

Taylor (the person most closely resembling the 'lady of the house') rolled her eyes a bit, but played along. "We'll just have to make an even bigger mess for her to enjoy," she replied, her voice warm and seductive.

I didn't quite realize what she meant until I felt her licking my thighs. Then I just laid back and enjoyed it as she started really making a mess of me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was interesting to write, since I wanted there to be some obvious parallels to Taylor's first visit to Parian in Taylor's Dress-Up Adventures, while contrasting interestingly with Missy's visit to Parian in Maid to Serve, all without being too derivative of either. Hopefully it worked out well enough.
> 
> My idea of how Parian's shop is laid out was partly inspired by it's description in the former work, partly by vague memories of the time in the novel Barrayar where Cordelia gets new clothes with the help of Alys Vorpatril (or at least, I think it's that book), and partly made up out of whole cloth.
> 
> (Snerk.)
> 
> Since posting the second chapter, I've received multiple messages informing me of developments in City of Heroes fan servers. For my next trick, I'll mention how much I miss Pixie Hollow Online.
> 
> just stay out! - I'll admit I played this up as a deliberate contrast to what happened in MtS. But also given how Sabah was friends with Taylor well before joining the Undersiders in this story, I thought she'd want to speak to Missy privately. In MtS she doesn't seem to entirely approve of how young a girl Taylor has brought to her, here she's got... other concerns. Oh, and once I started writing it it seemed hilarious, so I played it up even more.
> 
> Fifteen - For various reasons, I'm tweaking ages a bit.
> 
> At least she didn't offer me her condolences - She almost did, but once I got to writing I decided to drop that.
> 
> And then Foil left without ever giving me a second look. - I felt like I had to at least mention the issue, but I didn't really want to spend a lot of time on it either.
> 
> why Scion or the Endbringers had disappeared - Just because I needed them for setup doesn't mean I wanted to keep them around. Just imagine something like Path to Munchies happening in the background, but with different timing and a different girl in a different city. (Or not. But I still recommend the story.)
> 
> yearbook - This was basically the result of me thinking about what their relationship might look like from the outside for the time they had together before shit started hitting the fan. Missy doesn't mention the name of the school because at this point she's an Arcadia student herself.
> 
> You can't stop them, they're like the wind. - I know this is referencing something, but hell if I know what.
> 
> lady-stilts - I... guess this comes from RWBY?
> 
> wash any damaged costumes - Just -Missy's- costumes, actually. Again, she's too young for Sabah.
> 
> I was wearing this when Vicky made me a woman - This is it, the line that pretty much inspired writing the entire chapter.
> 
> someone could actually find me attractive - There seems to be a lot of debate in the fandom over just how attractive Taylor is or isn't. One of my sources obviously has her being pretty good looking, if not by "conventional standards". (Which is to say, not having big boobs.) But once you start looking at her self-evaluations in Worm canon as being unreliable narration, it's not hard to justify a pretty wide range of things for her.


	4. Questions or Questioners

I wasn't really much of one for celebrity rumormongering. I'd picked a few things up, yeah. It was hard to ignore the rumor mill - either of them - sometimes, and I'd had my own reasons to go looking through old yearbooks. But I'd never really gotten too far into it. I was willing to bet that most capes didn't.

It was hard to enjoy the muckraking when you might be the next target.

But it was a bit different when someone else's old business had started affecting things in my own life. Sure, I'd heard some pretty salacious stories about Skitter's involvement with one or more (oh my!) of New Wave's members, but I was starting to realize that even the ones that weren't completely wrong had missed some important details.

(And some of them were so very wrong. Had anyone ever actually believed the one with Lady Photon? Though I just might see it in my dreams now...)

So I'd decided to do a bit more digging.

New Wave had more than it's share of dedicated cape stalkers - sorry, I meant 'amateur reporters'. A combination of being relatively large for an independent hero group, and the novelty of them having voluntarily revealed their identities. So there was a lot of material about them on PHO. The mods tamped down on some of the more invasive stuff, but they hadn't always caught everything, and that's without talking about other sites that just didn't care. Of course, those threads had their share of bullshit artists too, but it was easier to spot them when it was all set down in print instead of just whispers, and I was able to confirm a few things from my own observations.

It almost went without saying that people noticed when the Dallons hired a housekeeper.

The mods didn't like it when people started digging into the identities of non-cape friends and associates, and there had been a lot of redaction going on. But that had gone out the window once Taylor was outed, and some people had updated their posts.

I'm not sure I would have even looked into some of those threads if someone hadn't changed their title to mention that. It was one thing to see Taylor in a maid costume, maybe even playing it up a little bit. It was another thing entirely to realize Skitter really had once worked as a housekeeper.

And it -was- as a housekeeper, not as a maid. Someone had tracked down the original ad. Although given that there were a few blurry pictures of Taylor dressed as a maid while working that had either escaped redaction or been reposted, that distinction had obviously gotten blurred.

Guess why that might have happened. Two words, rhymes with "Lory Firl". If I hadn't been able to guess that from some of Taylor and Parian's comments, the fact that there was an entire tracking thread for her visits to the (old) Dollhouse with a rotating cast of friends would probably have clued me in.

The really interesting thing was that as far as I could tell Taylor hadn't stopped visiting the Dallon home after Skitter came on the scene, and it didn't seem like her relationship with the Dallon sisters had ended there either. But both the visits and the displays of affection had become less frequent. Finally Taylor completely fell off that side of PHO's radar around when the Slaughterhouse Nine had arrived, something which made complete sense in retrospect.

Glory Girl and Panacea had shown an unusual willingness to work together with the Undersiders, even considering what they were dealing with. Had they known? No, how long had they known? I was sure they'd known before the end.

Because really, what else could it have been about? Taylor gets outed at lunchtime, and that very evening her girlfriends have a wake-the-neighbors level fight with their mom before fleeing into the night? Come on. Even if they weren't also capes, what else is it going to be?

It was basically the end of New Wave. I'd already known most of the story from there. The Dallon adults left town a few months later. Crystal Pelham went to college out of state. Sarah Pelham - Lady Photon - was all that was left. Theoretically still an independent, but she worked with the Protectorate so much of the time that it was hard to tell.

Cape groups fell apart for a lot of reasons. Casualties, particularly endbringer casualties, were probably one of the most common, and New Wave had taken it's share, but they could have survived that. Losing almost their entire younger generation at once?

One poster had described it as New Wave "dying of a broken heart", and it had caught on. For some reason I found the phrase disturbingly evocative.

And in the meantime, Glory Girl and Panacea went on largely as before. Glory Girl would pop up without warning in different parts of the city and go looking for trouble. She didn't seem to get into a lot of cape fights anymore, but she usually managed to get a good workout, and saved quite a few people from assorted lower level criminals.

And Panacea kept showing up at the hospital, healing people, if not as often or for as long as she used to. That last part made some people grumble, but they'd usually get shouted down by any actual medical professionals who wandered by the thread. Besides, no one wanted to complain too loudly, just in case it she might stop. Even the way she apparently provided the same services to the Undersiders only caused a little yelling. Healing people wasn't exactly a crime in and of itself even if you were healing criminals.

Developments after that were unclear... but something had obviously broken down on a personal level.

With a few more of the gaps filled in, I could see the times where I had inadvertently reminded Taylor of her past.

I didn't like it. It made me feel like I was taking advantage of her. I didn't want to be that kind of person.

But at this point, I'd just hurt her more if I left, wouldn't I? And I didn't want to leave her. We hadn't known each other for long, but I'd liked spending time with her. And then there was the sex.

I had to admit it, I'd really liked the sex. I didn't like thinking of that as being all our relationship had, but I couldn't deny that it was a big part of it.

So where did we go from here?

For being the most important question, it was still the one I had the least idea how to answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of people seem to want to know what happened with Amy and Vicky. And I started wanting to get there too, once I realized where things were going. But I'm trying to avoid rushing things too much or getting too infodumpy.
> 
> This chapter may be a bit infodumpy anyway, but I'm pretty sure my original plan would have been -much- worse. At least this spreads it out a little more and hopefully the framing is interesting.
> 
> This one gave me a few tricky moments, because I acidentally made it sound like Missy knew a lot more about the situation than she was actually supposed to with some of her previous thoughts. I hope it makes sense that there are things that are at least semi-public knowledge that she still didn't know, because they weren't really important to her until now.
> 
> shouted down by any actual medical professionals - I once saw someone complaining about how cliche it was for SIs to tell Amy she needed to start taking breaks. But given how real an issue burnout is for non-superpowered physicians, maybe it's a cliche because it seems so absurd that no one had already done so in canon. (Of course, in the real world we don't always handle it well either, but.)


	5. Visits or Visitors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've made a minor change to the end of Caution or Couture. It's not huge and is more of a presentation thing without changing the essence, but you may want to check it out anyway.

Thing settled into a bit of a routine after that. I'd find time to visit Taylor a couple times a week usually. Sometimes there'd be a new costume...

***

I frowned down at the... whatever you'd call this thing I was wearing. It fit more like a leotard than anything else, but then it had a skirt and all these frilly bits, and...

And it was really, really, tight. Not cutting off circulation tight, but I wasn't leaving much to the imagination above or below. Honestly it was impressive in a way, but I wasn't entirely happy with the way it showed off just how much of a figure I didn't have. Even the big blue bow on the front wasn't enough to hide that.

Not that Taylor seemed to mind. I didn't think she'd taken her eyes off my chest since I got the costume on. I wasn't convinced I had anything worth looking at there, but I could hardly complain when I'd been ogling her just as much. Where my costume had all blue for the skirt and frills, she had mostly green accents with pink bows. I wasn't sure I was a fan of the color combination, but that seemed like a minor thing when you considered the skirt.

I hadn't believed a skirt could actually come much shorter than the one on Taylor's maid costume and still look like it deserved the name, but Parian had managed it. No stockings for this costume, just legs that seemed to go on forever...

...

I was starting to think I had some fetishes that I hadn't been fully aware of.

Finally Taylor tore her eyes away from my breasts. "You look even cuter in that than I expected," she commented.

"Legs," I replied.

Taylor blinked.

"Ummmm..." I felt myself going red. Great job on not embarrassing yourself anytime you open your mouth, Missy.

Taylor laughed. "You're -so- cute," she said before leaning over and pushing the bow on my chest to the side. It was easy to see the shape of my nipple through the costume now. I gasped as she began sucking on it through the thin material.

After a while she pulled away, and now I could see that the fabric had gone translucent where Taylor's saliva had soaked through it. "This is actually a lewd costume, isn't it?" I said, shivering just a bit as I felt the cool air on the wet fabric.

"It's cute -and- lewd," Taylor replied, one hand trailing gently along my back while the other dipped lower to squeeze my ass. Then I moaned as her mouth latched onto my other breast.

My pussy was already getting wet, and I wondered how much she'd have to play with me before you'd be able to see that right through the (definitely lewd!) outfit...

I was really going to have to try to get Taylor into the shower before we changed out of these.

***

Or an old costume...

***

Almost the moment Taylor entered the storage room, I grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss.

We were both wearing school uniforms. Or at least, something that with about twice as much material could someday have pretensions of being a school uniform. Classmates who'd been giving each other lust-besotted looks for hours, finally getting a chance to sneak away...

I didn't really want to let her go yet, but Taylor pulled back anyway. "You're so impatient," she said with a smirk.

I ran one hand up the inside of her thigh before gently running my fingers along her labia. "So are you." She hadn't gotten this wet just from a single kiss... and no panties?

Taylor didn't respond in words, she just moaned and tried to grind herself against my hand.

I could do a lot better than that. I dropped down on my knees, shoved my head under her skirt, and started licking away.

Neither of us could actually see the other's face like this, but I could hear that she was trying to use her arm to muffle her cries of pleasure.

I'd just have to try harder.

It wasn't hard to get caught up in what I was doing. I'd tried tasting myself once and hadn't really been a fan, but either Taylor was different or it was different because it was Taylor, I couldn't really tell which. The point was, I wasn't going to get tired of this anytime soon. But I was expecting...

"M- Missy!" Taylor gasped out. "It's almost time to go back to class!"

I stood up. "Oh?" I asked. I grabbed the end of the strapon I was wearing and began rubbing it against her pussy. "Don't you want to have a little more fun? I haven't even gotten to come yet. So unfair..."

I probably wouldn't from this, actually. This toy was supposed to stimulate the person wearing it too, but it didn't do much more than get me more worked up. I knew Taylor would be more than happy to take care of me after this little fantasy played out though.

She wasn't bothering to hold back her moans as I began thrusting. "If you keep making so much noise, someone will hear you," I teased.

Of course, no one else was in the building today, but that wasn't important right now.

***

And sometimes we'd just spend time hanging out together...

***

"So this is where you got those outfits from," I noted.

Taylor nodded. "We'll probably get to the episode where the model for yours appears tonight, but mine is a lot further in."

"Huh," I replied. "I wouldn't have thought you'd be into something like this." I wasn't sure I was either, for that matter. It seemed a bit cutesy and formulaic so far.

"It actually gets a lot more serious than this, but it takes a while to get there," she said with a shrug. "And I guess some people would call it naive, but sometimes it's nice to imagine solving all your problems by making them explode with the power of love."

I burst out laughing at that. It was just such an absurd statement. "-Explode-?" I managed to get out before the giggles overtook me again.

"Mmhmm," Taylor replied. "Here, just a second. I'll show you one of the really flashy ones."

As she switched dvds, I looked at the picture on the case of the new one she'd pulled out. The woman on the cover had the wrong color hair, but... wow.

Taylor turned back to me and must have seen my face turning red. "You're imagining me dressed like that, aren't you?"

I just nodded in reply.

"That's actually... oddly appropriate." She stopped to think about it for a minute, then chuckled. "Maybe I'll ask Parian what she can come up with sometime. Anyway, watch this!"

I watched.

The leadup was... really really silly.

But the explosion really was pretty impressive.

***

But I wasn't going to be able to hide from the truth forever.

***

Almost the moment I stepped inside, I heard Taylor call out to me from the kitchen. "In here, Missy!" she said.

As I hung up my jacket, I heard someone say "Oh, so I get to meet her after all?" She sounded oddly familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.

What I saw when I came around the corner nearly sent me reeling.

"We're just having a late lunch," Taylor said, gesturing at a tray with sandwiches on the table. "Did you want anything?"

I quickly regathered my composure and walked over to the table.

"You must be Taylor's new girlfriend," the other woman at the table said.

"Um... yeah," I replied. Dammit, pull it together Missy!

She stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you! I'm the crazy ex-girlfriend who keeps showing up at the most inconvenient times," Panacea replied, a huge smile on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more like a leotard than anything else - Missy and Taylor are dressed as Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter here. The design is not supposed to have been "sexed up" too much, but one of the disadvantages of white fabric is that it tends to go see-through when wet... or sometimes it's an advantage.
> 
> pretensions of being a school uniform - This bit had 'naughty schoolgirl' outfits partly because the ones that showed up in Taylor's Dress-Up Adventures definitely had that flavor, and partly to contrast with something I'm working on for MtSA that has real ones.
> 
> I also got a bit inspired by events in bearblue's Worm:Joyride. I was very sad when Lisa and Taylor never made it to that closet in chapter 13. (I may write an omake of what I imagine happening there sometime...)
> 
> Honestly though... this section didn't really want to come out the way I wanted it to, and I've pretty much just decided to move on. (If the last line of the chapter makes you think I'm really looking forward to the next one, you are so very right.) Maybe I'll revise it later.
> 
> really flashy ones - Taylor's pulled out some Sailor Stars here. And Missy is imagining Taylor dressed as Sailor Star Healer. It's funny because Ami/Yaten was a pretty popular pairing when I was seriously into the fandom. ... I think. Google seems to think Ami/Taiki was popular. Eh, whatever. I think they'd be cute together anyway.


	6. Understanding or...

As I reflexively shook Panacea's hand, I saw Taylor facepalming.

"Amy, please," she said.

Amy laughed - no, this was more of a cackle. "Soap operas!"

Taylor groaned. "I take it all back."

Ooo-kay, I wasn't really sure what that was about.

Finally, Panacea got her mirth under control. "Sorry. I really am pleased to meet you though," she said.

"Uh, likewise," I managed to stammer out.

"I guess I don't need to introduce her to you," Taylor observed. Guess she thought I looked a bit starstruck.

I just shook my head, and grabbed a sandwich to occupy myself, even though I'd already eaten.

Amy Dallon. Panacea. Called the world's greatest healer by some.

She'd healed a lot of people in Brockton Bay over the years.

She'd healed all of the Wards of injuries they'd gotten on patrol over the years.

She'd healed me personally multiple times.

_She'd seen Vista out of costume._

And now here she was, just chattering away like nothing at all unusual was going on. Though I could tell Amy - I'd decided just to think of her as Amy, it was easier when we were both out of costume - was avoiding some topics, by the little pauses that crept into her speech every now and then.

Exactly who or what they were talking about largely escaped me, occupied by my own thoughts as I was. She knew who I was! And- and- shouldn't that be some kind of problem?!

Apparently not to Amy. I saw her glance in my direction every minute or two, but otherwise she was completely focused on Taylor.

Actually, something about the way she was doing that was bugging me.

It was a few minutes before I made the connection. She wasn't just glancing over at me.

She was waiting for a response.

The PRT had designed sets of coded gestures for use in possible Stranger situations. It wasn't a full language by any means, but certain useful concepts could be communicated. The gesture Amy was making was from a set given to affiliates that was a couple years out of date, but now that I was thinking about it I still recognized it. They drilled us on them pretty hard.

This one didn't exactly map to ordinary words, and was heavily context dependent, but if I had to come up with a translation, it'd be something like _Are you paying attention?_

The next time I saw her looking, I made the same sign back. _I'm paying attention._

And then she largely stopped paying attention to me, but she was still talking to me with her hands.

_Maintain cover. Scatter. Regroup at home base in two hours._

"Maintain cover" was really more "don't let the stranger know you're onto them", but the implied meaning for the current situation was obvious. After that I was a bit more uncertain. Amy obviously wanted to meet with me somewhere else, but where did she mean by "home base"?

'Right here' was one possible meaning, but that was obviously out.

I didn't think she'd want to show up at the PRT building.

I didn't know where she lived.

Where did that leave?

***

Amy left not long after that. I stuck around a while longer, talking with Taylor, but left earlier than I'd originally planned, citing an appointment I'd forgotten about.

More like an appointment I hadn't realized I'd had, but it was close enough.

Honestly I wasn't sure that this was such a good idea. Panacea had a good reputation, and she'd always been nice enough when I'd met her before, but the situation felt really weird.

On the other hand, if she'd meant me harm, she wouldn't have needed to fool around like this. Just tell Skitter about the hero poking around her base, and wait for- no. I wasn't going to think about that.

Anyway, good idea or bad idea, here it was. The one location I could think of that she'd know I could find that could have that meaning to her.

Home base.

Home.

The old Dallon house.

It'd actually become a minor tourist attraction for a while, something I personally found a bit ghoulish. But that had dropped off pretty rapidly. After all, from the outside at least, it was really just a house.

From what I'd heard, they hadn't actually sold the place. Between being in a good part of town (if, perhaps, not quite as solidly so anymore), having a good security system, and someone apparently checking up on the place regularly, it had avoided the fates that awaited unoccupied housing in a lot of other parts of the Bay. And there wasn't supposed to be anything in there worth stealing anymore.

When I arrived, I rapidly realized that at least some of what I'd been told was true. There was no obvious damage to the house... and Amy had just opened the door from inside and waved at me.

"I was hoping you would figure it out," Amy said as she led me inside.

I shrugged. "It was the only thing that made sense."

A bit later we had sat down in the kitchen, which still had a table and chairs, though I was betting these weren't the originals. Amy had offered me a drink, and when I said yes gotten a soda out of the fridge. It wasn't cold though. I guess they used it for storage, but it wasn't worth keeping it plugged in?

And then... we just kind of stared at each other for a while. I didn't really know why I was here, and Amy seemed to have lost whatever energy had been animating her when we were at Taylor's.

She looked like she was feeling about as awkward as I was, really.

Finally, she spoke up. "When Taylor mentioned she was seeing someone named Missy, I never expected that it would be you." She smiled a little. "You've really grown since the last time I saw you."

I hunched over a little in my chair. "You don't need to patronize me," I said.

"I'm not!" she protested. "If you don't believe me, find some of your old clothes and try them on. Your eyes may deceive you, but the closet always knows. It's obvious to me though. You might always be petite... but you're not the little girl you were anymore."

"Hmmm."

We lapsed into silence again. I had no idea what was going through Amy's mind, but I was thinking about what she had said. There had been a lot of clothes I'd had to replace over the past couple years, but I'd thought most of them had just shrunk. I didn't -feel- like I'd changed that much, but... could I have just not noticed? If she was right, I felt like I might have to rethink a lot of things...

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't realize Amy had gotten up until I felt her arms wrapping around me. I stiffened for a moment, but relaxed when she didn't do anything else. And I could feel dampness where her cheek was pressed against mine - she was crying.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Huh?" What did I do?

"I had lunch with Taylor today," she said, still whispering.

I was feeling completely lost here. "Yeah, I was there for that? ... And don't you work with her all the time? I've seen videos, even."

She shook her head, and I felt her squeezing me a little tighter. " _Panacea_ works with _Skitter_ all the time. This was _Amy_ having lunch with _Taylor_. It's the first time in months that..." She choked back a sob. "That we could just be 'us'..."

Oh.

Ohhhh.

A bit belatedly, I got my arms up and hugged her back. I heard her sniff a little at that, but I didn't get the impression she was planning to let go any time soon.

I wasn't going to complain. I'd never experienced anything like that, but... I thought maybe I could understand it, a little.

***

It was a while after that when Amy sat back down. Somehow, it felt a lot less uncomfortable than it had before, now that I had some idea what was going on. Still...

"What -happened- with you three?" I blurted out. Then I realized what I was saying. "Never mind. None of my business."

Amy actually laughed at that. Just a little, but it was definitely a laugh. "I don't think you asked to be in the middle of it either, but here we all are. Maybe telling you more would help."

Help? What did that mean? But I didn't try to interrupt her, even if part of me thought that maybe I should.

"I knew that Taylor had triggered, but I didn't say anything," she started. "Medical privacy laws... you get used to it, and it's harder to bring up things like that when it's someone you know. I didn't want to push her. I thought she'd come talk to us about it herself eventually."

Amy shook her head. "I was wrong."

\---

I glared at the blonde one that they'd left behind to watch us.

Hostages. Fuck, I hated this.

For some reason, the "Bug girl" hadn't put any spiders on me like she'd said she had to everyone else. Maybe she'd recognized me? But why should she think a healer could do anything to mess her up? And I was pretty sure I could.

I could do something with this one too, if I could get close enough. But the problem was, she was already paying attention to me, and I didn't know what -she- could do.

"Oh? You look like you're getting ready to cause some kind of trouble," she said, her tone almost sickeningly sweet. "Not afraid of spiders?"

What spiders?

She frowned. "No, I guess you don't need to be, do you? But I bet I know what will scare you..."

And then the bug girl came back in and interrupted her. "Tattletale, please don't taunt everyone's favorite healer." There was something odd about the way she emphasized that...

Tattletale shot her an incredulous look, but I was distracted something else at that point. I felt a moth land on the side of my neck, it's wings brushing lightly against my skin before it took off again.

And then I realized what had bothered me about the bug girl. Why she'd felt familiar.

That hadn't been an attack.

It was a kiss.

I clapped my hands over my mouth before I could blurt anything out.

_Taylor?!_

\---

"It was probably the worst possible way I could have found out. She came clean to Vicky and me after that, and I could kind of understand why she'd done some of the things she had, but it still hurt that she hadn't asked us for advice. After all, we were pretty experienced at the cape thing, we could have helped even if she hadn't wanted to go public. And Vicky..." Amy sighed. "She didn't take it anywhere near that well."

I could imagine. I knew that Glory Girl had a temper...

Wait, no that wasn't really fair. Even back when I'd considered her a rival I don't think I'd have been able to convince myself that was a fair assessment of her. Vicky didn't really have a bad temper, she was just the kind of person who put a lot of passion into everything she did, and that included being upset or angry just as much as anything else.

Saying she hadn't taken it well was probably an understatement.

"After that... well, I'm sure you remember what it was like. It was just one thing after another."

I nodded. A lot had happened that I didn't -like- thinking about, but I still remembered.

"Taylor had withdrawn more and more, focused on what she was doing with the Undersiders. And for a while we were all just too busy to worry about our social lives. But things got better for a little while, after Echidna. I think we could have gotten back to our old balance in time. But..."

I gulped. "But then they outed her."

"Then they outed her. And mom completely lost it. Decided Taylor must have been a villain all along, that working for us was part of some bizarre infiltration plot. As though it shouldn't have been obvious what her trigger event was, we certainly spent enough time giving Winslow hell over it." Amy shook her head. "Idiots. We might never have even found out their dirty little secret if they hadn't tried so hard to block her transfer."

"After that, Vicky and I just couldn't stay there any more. Sooner or later one of us would have done something we'd have really regretted. But it might have been better if we had stayed. Because when Taylor heard... it kind of broke her. She thought she'd cost us our family, and just when dad was getting better too. So she shut herself off. Became just Skitter, all the time. None of us were ever able to reach her, get her to open up again... until you." Amy had started tearing up again, but I could see something else on her face too.

Hope.

"You haven't given up on her," I said.

"Would you?" She asked.

I thought about it. I knew there was a part of me that hadn't really given up on Gallant, even though he was forever out of reach. 

How much worse would it be, knowing that you -could- be together, that there shouldn't be anything standing in your way, but finding a gap there, one you didn't know how to close?

"No," I replied. "I couldn't."

Amy nodded. "But you don't need to worry that Vicky or I will try to push you out of Taylor's life."

Had I been worried about that? I wasn't sure.

"Because if we can ever get back what we had with Taylor... we'll owe it all to you."

***

I left the Dallon house in a bit of a daze. Amy had given me a lot to think about. More than I'd ever expected, even.

But I couldn't quite shake a growing feeling of unease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my original plan, a lot of what Missy digs up in Questions or Questioners would have come up here instead. I think it works better this way, and not just because it would have been really infodumpy.
> 
> a bit starstruck - Not intended as an injoke, honest.
> 
> sets of coded gestures - Concept shamelessly borrowed from Mauling Snarks.
> 
> not the little girl you were anymore - Surprise!
> 
> Actually, I've been trying to build up to this a bit, not sure how well it worked. Sometimes the emphasis on how young Missy looks in MtS feels a bit weird to me. I decided to play with it a bit here by having her actually be more grown up than she realizes. (I was probably a little inspired by the "Louise isn't so little" scenes from The Hill of Swords.)
> 
> I knew that Taylor had triggered - In MtDU, the Winslow administration tried to keep Taylor from transferring out because they thought it would bring attention to the issues with Sophia, and hearing rumors that she was trying prompted the trio to jump the gun on the locker. Which should probably butterfly away the Undersiders entirely, but then the story would be unrecognizable. So I'm just saying that Taylor was a bit better prepared than in canon, if not as much so as the difference in lead time might suggest, since she also had more things to occupy her time. (Which is to say, there were times she could have spent working on her costume that she spent having fun with Amy and Vicky instead.)
> 
> mom - At first I wasn't sure that Amy referred to Carol and Mark as "mom" and "dad" in Taylor's Dress-Up Adventures. In fact I couldn't find her referring to them directly at all. But I just now found her doing so at the beginning of chapter 10. ... In this context, their relationship having been better all along probably counts more as twisting the knife.


	7. Revelations

It was a few days later the next time I visited Taylor. There were a couple of distinctive boxes sitting on the table.

I knew what that meant.

I don't think I really got as much out of the costume thing in and of itself as Taylor did. There were a few that did something special for me, and there were more that I just liked the way they made one or the other of us look. But it felt like there was another level there for her that I just wasn't getting.

That was okay, I'd always thought. After all, it wasn't like I wasn't still having fun, and Taylor's enthusiasm was enjoyable in it's own right.

This time, though, I'd waved off the implied invitation. Not really in the mood today, just wanted some company. So we watched a movie and cuddled. It was nice.

Then I went home and masturbated like crazy, because _I was so freaking horny and I'd turned down sex with my girlfriend for no reason at all what the hell was wrong with me_.

The next day, I went back and found out what was inside those boxes. It was pretty good and Taylor was pretty great. I went home feeling satiated and incredibly guilty.

In retrospect I feel pretty stupid for not realizing the problem sooner, but when you've been working so hard at deceiving yourself it can be hard to notice that it's just not working anymore.

For the entire length of our relationship, I'd been trying to pretend that Taylor wasn't Skitter.

Oh, I wasn't delusional about it. I'd never told myself that Taylor was just a rich person with eccentric friends, or anything like that.

But I'd avoided thinking about it whenever I could. I'd given up trying to spy on Skitter almost from the moment Taylor came through that door in a maid costume, because I hadn't wanted to think of her like that.

I don't know if she realized it might bother me, or just didn't want to talk about it in front of someone who wasn't involved, but Taylor had definitely helped me along by keeping quiet about any of her criminal activities in front of me. I hadn't even seen her as Skitter - that is, in costume as Skitter - again since that first encounter.

It didn't really matter why she'd done it, I guess. It had worked. I'd been able to put aside everything I felt about Skitter and focus on what I felt about Taylor.

But after that conversation with Amy, I wasn't doing such a good job of pretending anymore.

Taylor was Skitter. Skitter was Taylor.

Maybe spying on Skitter had never been a good plan in the first place. If she was ordinarily this good at compartmentalizing her 'work' and her private life, the odds of my finding out anything worthwhile had always been low.

Okay, so, maybe I didn't have any particular obligations here as Vista. But that didn't mean it was okay for me to be hanging out with Skitter, let alone having sex with her.

But what was the point of that? Who exactly was being hurt by Skitter having a sex life?

How did Amy handle this? It sounded like she'd had to deal with some of the same doubts.

***

Maybe I really was an idiot. It took me how long to remember that I could just -ask her-?

Before I'd left, Amy had given me a card. It was from some restaurant I'd never heard of, and had a number scrawled in pen on the back of it. Nothing to indicate who it belonged to or that there was anything special about it, if anyone else happened to be looking through my stuff.

Apparently, she really liked her privacy.

When I called, she'd directed me to a housing development on the west side. The kind of place where all the houses looked the same. I'd always found these sort of depressing. No matter what window you looked out, all you'd see was rows of houses that looked exactly like the one you were in...

Maybe that was part of the appeal here. I imagined that people around here didn't pay too much attention to their neighbors.

***

For some reason we ended up in the kitchen again. Maybe that was just what she considered the appropriate place to have discussions like this, I don't know.

Still, the difference couldn't be more obvious. That had been a place someone camped out at for a couple days here and there.

This was a home.

Once we'd gotten settled, I opened up with the obvious question. "How do you handle it?"

"Handle what?" Amy replied.

Okay, maybe it wasn't obvious. "Taylor being a villain," I clarified.

Amy seemed to stop and think about that for a moment. "I guess the best way to put it would be that I don't."

What?

"Let me ask you a question. Who do you think is the worst villain that the Undersiders have ever had to work with?"

I thought about it. If anything, I seemed to be spoiled for choice. Members of the group had been at multiple Endbringer fights, after all. But I got the feeling that she was thinking of someone closer to home, someone I'd be more familiar with.

Well, I actually got the feeling that there was a trap hiding in the question. But if I wanted her advice, I'd probably have to spring it. "Kaiser?" I offered. The literal Nazi seemed like a reasonable suggestion here.

Amy shook her head. "You're thinking too conventionally."

Yep, I was right. Definitely a trap.

"Let me tell you a story. Imagine you're approached a powerful enemy to discuss a common goal..."

***

"... But I don't know what she'd have done next, if one of the observers hadn't finally given in to their disgust, prompting Taylor to reveal that the whole thing had been a scam," Amy concluded.

I shivered. Sometime in the middle, Amy had stopped trying to describe things in terms of 'imagine it'd happened to you' and moved to describing what had happened with Taylor instead, but the picture she'd painted was disturbing either way. But... "You haven't said who you're talking about."

"But you've already guessed, haven't you."

I had. I just didn't want to admit it, even now. I was barely whispering as the name passed over my lips. "Alexandria."

"Alexandria. Founder of the Protectorate. Veteran of dozens of Endbringer battles. Idol to millions. Psychologically tortures a teenager for meaningless political advantage." She snorted. "Doesn't quite fit the image, does it?"

I remembered what things had looked like from my side. Skitter had approached the PRT about something, I'd never gotten a clear idea on what. Hours of chaos had followed. And then... a mystery. Things that had never filtered down to my level. But Skitter had reappeared in her territory the next day, and Alexandria had seemingly lost any credit she had left with a lot of the local leadership.

I guess I knew a bit more about why now.

"It's easy to get brainwashed by the labels. Alexandria knew she was a hero, so she didn't blink at doing horrific things for her cause. Mom learned something about Skitter, and forgot everything she knew about Taylor. And I..." Amy's eyes slipped shut, and she seemed to shrink down in her chair for a moment. "...I lost sight of myself for a while. If Vicky and Taylor hadn't been able to snap me out of it, I don't know what would have happened. Something bad."

I frowned. I thought I saw what she was trying to get at, but... "So, what, you're saying I should ignore that Taylor's a villain?"

She shook her head. "You don't have to ignore anything. Maybe for you, some of the things Taylor has done are too much to ignore. But decide based on what Missy thinks about Taylor, or you'll doubt yourself forever."

***

Later that evening, I was thinking about what Amy had said.

Okay, that's a lie. I was trying to find ways to dismiss it.

It sounded like a bunch of platitudes. Ignore the labels. Decide for yourself. Hah.

There was just one problem. I kept thinking back on everything that had happened, and seeing the same set of criteria popping up in my decisions. On the one side, there were my personal observations of Taylor since I ran into her at that party.

On the other side was _she's a villain_.

It was making me feel a bit shallow.

I'd heard about Clockblocker's little debate with Taylor, back when I had been grabbed by Echidna. Knowing what I knew now, I wasn't sure the result was so clear-cut as either of them had thought. And there was so much else, things that had happened both before and since.

Skitter had done terrible things.

Skitter had done great things.

Did one outweigh the other? What did that even mean?

What was the question I was really trying to answer here? This wasn't a question of how Vista should respond to Skitter. Vista hadn't been on the opposite side of a fight from Skitter for a long time and that didn't look like it was going to change - the Undersiders had become practically reticent for villains.

It was about Missy and Taylor.

Was Taylor too horrible of a person to be friends with?

To have sex with?

To love?

Ugh, that sounded horrible. But I couldn't quite escape the feeling that I wasn't just judging my own relationship here.

What kind of a person was Taylor?

I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd already decided and was now just second-guessing myself. But here I was. I needed something more, before I'd be sure.

I rolled over and groaned. Somehow, I thought I was probably going to end up regretting this no matter what happened.

***

Visiting Taylor again. Maybe for the last time, depending on how things went.

"Taylor? I have something I need to tell you," I said. Somehow I think I managed not to sound as nervous as I felt.

She sat down on the couch next to me. "What is it?" If she thought anything unusual was going on, she didn't show it.

I took a deep breath. "I'm a parahuman."

All the emotion drained from her face. I had a better idea what was going on now, from Amy's story - she was shunting her emotional cues into her insects. It happened almost automatically, if she was upset or stressed enough.

That didn't make it less terrifying to behold by any means.

"What- no, who- Was it-"

Oh.

"Taylor, calm down," I said.

She wasn't angry -at- me.

"I didn't -just- trigger."

She was angry -for- me. At whoever made me trigger. But she was cutting herself off because she didn't feel right asking me about my trigger event.

"I'm an established cape."

Though that could change.

Taylor blinked. The animation went back into her face. And I could see the gears turning. Comparing appearances in her head.

She didn't have a hard time coming to a conclusion, now that I'd put the idea in her head. "Vista?" she asked.

I waved a hand, and the room distorted, one wall receding while another came closer.

That it put the exit closer to me was just a coincidence. Honest.

And then Taylor did something I didn't expect.

She began laughing.

Well, it was more of a weak chuckle, but close enough.

"After what Parian said, I started thinking you were like the Taylor to my Vicky... but you were really the Taylor to my Grue, huh?" she said.

I'd been told enough about how Taylor had originally gotten tangled up with the Undersiders that I could understand the reference, though I wasn't sure why she mentioned Grue in particular. "I think I pretty much gave up any pretense of infiltration that first evening," I replied. "I liked you so much that I didn't really want to think about it."

"Sounds like you did better than me. It took me way too long to admit that I didn't really want to throw them over the side." She frowned. "But why tell me now? Because I get the impression you aren't looking for a job."

"No." I resisted the urge to scowl. That wasn't the point of this. "It's just... I don't -get- you, Taylor."

"Get me?" she asked, sounding puzzled.

Arrrgh. I got up and began pacing, frustrated. "Just because I wasn't trying to spy on you doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention, and you don't make any sense! I've seen how you've acted after Skitter gets into fights. You get upset when you've hurt someone, you're proud when you've defended someone, and you're happiest of all when nothing happens! People wave to you on the street, shopkeepers remember your preferences and seem happy to have you as a customer... You're a villain but you act more like a hero than anything else! And let's not even get into your 'employees', that's a whole other mass of contradictions."

Taylor was giving me a slightly dubious look at my ranting, but I wasn't quite finished.

I whirled around and pointed at her. "Why the hell are you even still a villain? I can't believe that the PRT couldn't have turned your image around. And don't even tell me that it was because your friends were villains, because that doesn't really hold up!"

Taylor gave me a sad smile. "Because someone has to do it."

That took the wind out of my sails. I flopped back down on the couch next to her. "What?"

"It's something Tattletale started thinking about before Echidna. We pretty much had everything we could ever want from a material standpoint, the only thing we didn't quite have was safety. And the best way to do that was to make everyone safer. Expand our control of the criminal side of the economy, enforce rules, keep the really bad sorts from establishing themselves. Working with the PRT when there were major threats, even."

"And you just did this out of the goodness of your heart," I replied dryly. Wait, fuck, why was I needling her?

Taylor shrugged. "We all had our own reasons. I won't pretend they were all altruistic. But things are still so much better than they were four years ago. Even the PRT and Protectorate have bounced back." She frowned a bit. "I wasn't always sure that would be a good thing, but now... We won't be able to hold on forever, but maybe they'll be be able to handle things when we're gone now." And there was that same look on her face...

I slid over a bit, leaned into Taylor's side, and she put an arm around me. With a sigh I dismissed my alterations to the room.

Had Amy realized I would confront Taylor like this? I'd be upset at the manipulation, but I didn't think she could really have predicted this. And what would be the point in trying to pull the wool over my eyes?

Maybe there was some self-justification in there... but she wasn't wrong about the key point. The city -was- better. And if that was the kind of person she wanted to be...

Maybe that was the answer I'd been looking for all along.

Amy had made a request of me that afternoon. I'd been trying not to think about it. If things had gone one way with Taylor, it wouldn't matter, and if they'd gone the other... did I even want to imagine where that might go?

But now, there was only one thing I could do, if I was going to be the kind of person -I- wanted to be.

I straightened up a bit and turned to look directly at Taylor. "I have a message for you," I said.

She turned to me, a curious look on her face.

"From Victoria Dallon," I continued.

I saw her eyes go wide.

And then I kissed her.

I'd never been that close to Vicky, but that didn't mean I didn't know some things about her, and I tried to put everything I thought she would feel into that kiss.

Love.

Regret.

Pleading.

Desperate longing.

_I love you._

_I miss you._

_Please come back to me._

_Please._

_Please..._

_Please!_

Maybe it was silly to think I could convey so much through something as simple as pressing our lips together.

But when I pulled back and opened my eyes, I could see the tears running down her face.

"Missy..." Taylor whispered.

I pressed a finger against her lips. "Wrong name," I gently chided her.

***

Taylor fumbling for her phone, dialing a number she'd had all along but been afraid to call.

Then the waiting.

Hearing a single set of footsteps coming up through the door that'd been left open.

Then a blonde whirlwind bursts through the opening, well ahead of the person on the stairs who had to walk up. A literally flying hug that would have sent them both to the ground if the one hadn't pulled the other into the air with her instead, twirling around in midair, a wordless sound of sheer happiness coming from her lips. Gentle caresses, born of reassurance rather than sensuality, telling each other that it was really them, that they were together again. Words of love and comfort too soft to understand, but recognizable simply by their tone.

Through it all, I was watching Taylor. First was anticipation, excitement warring with apprehension, both building to a peak when she heard our visitors arrive. A moment of surprise - you hadn't been, watching them on their way, Taylor? - gave way to joyful recognition. Smiling, laughing, delighting in the other's presence.

I felt a hand settle down on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. I looked up and saw Amy there, and smiled back at her.

She let go and ran over to join the hug, sliding into a spot that I didn't even realize was being held for her until she occupied it. There would be no doubt in any observer's minds that she belonged there, with both of them.

By some coincidence, Taylor had ended up facing directly towards me. From my perspective Amy and Vicky's faces in profile almost seemed to frame hers. Her eyes had slipped shut as she seemed to bask in their presence, a look of sheer contentment on her face.

It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I've expressed elsewhere (multiple places, probably), I've got my doubts about how well Tattletale's whole "control the underworld" scheme would actually work. So I decided to go the other way in this story and think about what the world would look like if it was actually going pretty well.
> 
> Does it seem odd that Vicky didn't show up when Missy visits the sisters' home? But I kind of felt that the first time she appears "onscreen" should be at her reunion with Taylor.
> 
> I'd given up trying to spy on Skitter - This may seem to not match up with what Missy was thinking in the first chapter. Uh, honestly that started as me forgetting about it, but I decided it actually fit as her looking back and thinking that she was barely paying lip service to the idea at that point.
> 
> a trap hiding in the question - My original plans didn't include Missy responding with so much cynicism to what Amy says here, but I think it works better this way.
> 
> approached a powerful enemy - "Skitter's surrender" probably doesn't involve saying she's surrendering or anything in a world where 'Cut ties' didn't happen. Honestly I'd just assume it didn't happen at all if I wasn't still playing compare/contrast with MtS and it hadn't mentioned Alexandria being dead. But no matter what, if Tagg's around he's bound to find a way to make a complete hash of things.
> 
> Skitter had reappeared - This list doesn't include a lot of things, because Missy doesn't have enough information to know that they happened as a result of that mess.
> 
> Clockblocker's little debate - The ironic thing is that Amy's mental state being so much better thanks in large part due to Taylor's involvement means that probably doesn't even come up here and so Taylor can't get a point from it. But that could also butterfly enough stuff about the S9 that there'd be a whole different set of things for them to argue about.
> 
> All the emotion drained from her face. - If we're ever shown what the whole "emotions into bugs" thing looks like to outside observers, I have not found it. So I took a little dramatic license, as I often do.
> 
> At least one epilogue coming (maybe more than one, depending on how things shake out), and I may do some side stories later.


	8. Epilogue 1 - Truth and Desire

I suppose it'd be traditional to say my relationship with Taylor changed after that day. Or maybe even the dreaded words "cooled off".

Meh. I wasn't much of one for tradition anyway. Our relationship hadn't really changed.

But I had.

It wasn't all sunshine and roses between Taylor and the Dallon sisters. The problems that had led to their estrangement hadn't just gone away over time. There were still issues that needed to be worked out and old hurts that needed to be soothed.

But they were determined to make things work now, and it was obvious they all considered it more than worth the effort. Whenever I saw Taylor's face light up upon Vicky entering the room, or the softer but no less heartfelt look of affection that followed some gesture from Amy, I felt a bit warmer inside knowing that I'd helped bring them back together again.

And also jealous. I was super-duper jealous of Taylor now. Because having seen that... I wanted it. I wanted someone who would make me feel the way they made Taylor feel.

I liked Taylor. I was attracted to Taylor. I enjoyed spending time with her in and out of bed. But I wasn't in love with her. Maybe I'd never even thought that I was, it was hard for me to tell now.

I didn't like the phrase "friends with benefits". Movies always made it sound so tawdry. But I guess it fit. We were friends, and we'd been good for each other. Even if I knew there was something else that I was looking for now, what I had now was still pretty good. There was no reason to rush or to worry.

Also, kissing Glory Girl was even better in real life than it'd been in my dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wasn't all sunshine and roses - Just leaving things as they were in part 7 seemed to feel a bit too pat. Besides, I think "they have problems but are working on them" feels stronger in the end.
> 
> I wasn't in love with her - I've been trying to hint at this from the beginning. Friendship and mutual attraction is a perfectly good starting point for it - heck, it's more or less where Amy and Taylor started - but while things might develop further between them, it hasn't yet, and there are things making it more difficult for Missy.
> 
> One more epilogue coming, and then the "main" story will be concluded, but that doesn't mean I'm done with the setting. Two side stories have been posted already, with one more in progress, and after that, who knows?


	9. Epilogue 2 - Arrival and Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been -almost- done for months... Kind of embarrassing given how short it is.

I'd mostly tuned Miss Militia out as she gave us the usual speech about a new Ward coming in. I suspected I'd heard it more times than anyone else in the organization by now, and even if that wasn't true I was sure I'd heard it enough times to give the entire thing myself. In my sleep.

The one thing that caught my attention was that the new girl was an established Ward transferring in. Apparently her family was moving because of work, so she was coming along with... or rather, she was preceding them by several weeks, so she could make some appearances early and make it harder for anyone to guess the new Ward's identity. That meant she'd be spending most of her nights in the Wards quarters for a while, and if we're here in the evening we should try not to make too much noise, _Abalone_.

Okay, Miss Militia didn't name anyone in a sarcastic tone like that. But we all knew exactly who the only member of the team was that really needed the warning.

Sigh. Wake me up when something actually happens.

***

"Toggle" was how Miss Militia had introduced her.

"Anne" had been how she'd introduced herself.

She had a really pretty smile. I wondered if-

No, that was getting too far ahead of myself. But I couldn't help hoping, and dreaming of what the future might bring...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one hell of a ride.
> 
> When I first came up with the idea that led to this story, there wasn't much to it, and it was very alien-space-bats-ish.
> 
> Step 1: Taylor from Dress-Up Adventures appears in the same room as Missy from Maid to Serve. (Either Alternate or original flavor.)  
> Step 2: ???  
> Step 3: Profit!
> 
> But when I started thinking about it in terms of "an actual story I could write", there were so many questions. First and foremost, how is there even a Skitter for Missy to meet? How did she end up as a villain? Where are Amy and Vicky in all of this?
> 
> Well, I came up with some answers... and it wasn't exactly a happy story. At that point, I think it might have been inevitable that Missy first learning what had happened and then helping the the three reconcile would become a major thread in the story. Especially since "what happened?" seemed to be the thing everyone wanted to know.
> 
> This is the end of the main story of Maid to Dress Up, but I have at least one more side story in the works, and there may be others in the future. Thanks for reading!


End file.
